The iOS is so popular because of its intuitive nature and easy access to apps. But some tasks require launching apps and scrolling through menus to get to what you really want. Voice control offers some help, if it actually interprets your request correctly. I recently tried to use it to call my doctor and was connected with my favorite Chinese restaurant. Likewise, I asked my phone to play the song “Beautiful,” and it started playing songs by Faith Hill. I didn’t even know I had any songs by Faith Hill.

Adding an icon to your home screen is an easy way to quickly launch a favorite web site, make a call, or, if jailbroken, play your favorite playlist. Here are some tips for avoiding menus, submenus, and in my case, Faith Hill:

Home page – Launch Safari. Navigate to your favorite site. Push the “save” image (square with arrow) and you will be offered the option to “add to bookmarks,” “add to home screen”, “mail link to this page,” and “print.” Push “add to home screen,” name your icon and you now have one-button access to your favorite site.

Call button – search the App Store for “call,” “dial,” or “speed dial” and you will find several free options. One with a generic icon is 1-Touch Call, which allows you to choose a number from your contatcts. Within these apps, you enter the telephone number to assign to that icon. After it is saved, calling a frequent number no longer requires launching the phone app. The number is automatically dialed. If jailbroken, use IconRenamer (free in Cydia) to change the icon name to your contact’s name.

Playlists – If you have a jailbroken device, you can add playlists to your homescreen using the Cydia tweak iSpringPlay. When you launch iSpringPlay, you will see a list of your playlists. Choose which one you would like to add to your homescreen, to be played in order or shuffled. iSpringPlay has not been updated recently, so the icon may not appear immediately.You will have to manually respring (I use Winterboard) or reset your device, but the icon will appear.

Have an ingenious way of using these or other icon shortcuts? Please post a comment. Screenshots for 1-Touch Call and iSpringPlay after the jump.